he produced the first tv interview of osama bin laden back in 1997. gregory johnsen is the author of the last refuge, yemen, al qaeda and america's war in arabia. welcome. peter, what triggered all of this as far as we understand it is the head of al qaeda sent a message to al qaeda in the arabian peninsula, in yemen, asking them, you know, do some terrorism, please. >> yeah, do something. >> now, is that a sign of weakness or strength? >> it's a sign of just sending a message. i mean it's do something is pretty -- it's not like, you know, the end of the world is coming. and so far whatever that something is hasn't transpired. and i think that al qaeda central is aware of its own problems and even al qaeda in the arabian peninsula is not doing particularly well, despite all of the flurry of things we've seen over the past week. about 30 of their leaders and south operatives have been killed in cia drone strikes, so their bench is thinning. >> why has yemen become the next place, after afghanistan, pakistan? >> right. well, i think in yemen you have a